Craft Chocolate Educator Guiding Tasting and Pairing Experiences with Jessica Henderson of Chocolate Monkey

Jessica Henderson, the owner of Chocolate Monkey, is a craft chocolate educator with a passion for helping people understand the difference between the chocolate you buy at the local grocery store versus fine, carefully-made craft chocolate. In addition to the very enjoyable part of tasting craft chocolates, Jessica enjoys sharing information on the entire process of how chocolate bars are created, including: from plants, to harvest, to production, and more. As part of her business, she pairs chocolates with wine and has also done pairings with beer and even kombucha!

Current research supports that while chocolate has existed for 5500  years as drinking chocolate, chocolate bars were created in the 1800s, and the craft chocolate industry is only about 20 years old. Jessica's vast knowledge of the craft chocolate world will most certainly shift how you think about chocolate and may even change what you decide to purchase and taste!

Contact Info:
Jessica Henderson
https://drjessicahenderson.com/chocolatemonkey 
https://www.facebook.com/Chocolate-Monkey-171005672991802 
@chocolatemonkeync (Instagram)

Julie Berman - Host
www.womenwithcooljobs.com
Julie@womenwithcooljobs.com
@womencooljobs (Instagram)

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I absolutely LOVE being the host and producer of "Women with Cool Jobs", where I interview women who have unique, trailblazing, and innovative careers. It has been such a blessing to share stories of incredible, inspiring women since I started in 2020.

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Transcript

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Jessica Henderson: 0:00

My favorite part is when somebody like tastes chocolate, and they're like, wow, this is something different. This is, this is not the sugary candy that I'm used to. And then maybe they taste a second sample. And they're like, oh, there's a world here to explore. And I think, you know, some people, they just really get into it after that. And I think that's my favorite part is when I open people's eyes to what's out there. Hey, everybody,

Julie- Host: 0:30

I'm Julie, and welcome to women with cool jobs. Each episode will feature women with unique trailblazing and innovative crews. We'll talk about how she got here, what life is like now, and actionable steps that you can take to go on a similar path, or one that's all your own. This podcast is about empowering you. It's about empowering you to dream big, and to be inspired. You'll hear from incredible women in a wide variety of fields, and hopefully some that you've never heard of before. Women who build robots and roadways,

Unknown: 1:07

firefighters,

Julie- Host: 1:08

C suite professionals surrounded by men, social media, mavens, entrepreneurs, and more. I am so glad we get to go on this journey together. Hey, everybody, this is Julie, and welcome to another episode of women with cool jobs. Today, I am so excited to talk to you about some really incredible things that have happened over the last few months, I have had probably one of the biggest transformations in my whole life. And part of it is because of this podcast that you're listening to. When I started in February, I had no idea what a podcast was. I had never listened to a podcast. And I had to do a ton of research. Because Yeah, I was completely unfamiliar. And to be honest, probably having known what I was gonna have to do how much I was gonna have to learn. And I did everything by myself. I didn't know anyone who done a podcast before. So I was starting from scratch. I was educating myself. And it was a long process. And I learned how to edit, I learned what a podcast host was, I learned all these crazy things. And here I am, I'm doing this podcast. And as I went along, of course, I had challenges. Of course, I would get frustrated, when I get frustrated, I cry. When I'm happy I cry too. I cry a lot. But basically, it was a humongous learning curve. And I think that, you know, I just had no expectations of what it was going to be and how he's going to do it. And so even though it was really challenging, in some places, especially I had this vision of what I wanted this podcast to be. And I felt like it was going to be so powerful, and that it was going to empower you when you were listening to all these incredible women, that they're doing these amazing things and things that maybe you never thought to think about. I know for so many of the women who I've already interviewed, I feel like I've had a lot of lightbulb moments. And I've learned a lot. And it's incredible to see these women, where they've come from how they got into their careers, their confidence, just being in a place where they're open to learning, and that they're okay with not doing things perfectly. they're okay with doing things messy. It's been so empowering. And I hope it's empowering for you. I hope it's also been awesome to hear about women in different career paths and totally different industries, and just seeing what is possible. And it's really the idea of me empowering you with this podcast by sharing a vision of what's possible for all women, whether it's today starting on a new path, and living a pandemic and trying to figure something else out something that maybe we loved when we're a kid, and someone told us Oh, that's not a realistic thing to do. Or maybe like me, I have really just put myself in this box where I didn't think about myself and, and being able to get skillsets in other areas that I just thought I wasn't good at like, I really thought I wasn't good in science and math and tech and all this stuff. And it turns out, I actually am good at some of these things. But I literally never gave myself the time and the space to learn those skills. And so I just wanted to share a little bit about my journey. I also got this amazing opportunity to be on Cathy Heller's podcast. It's called don't keep your day job. And it's one of my favorites because she's just so inspirational and she has the most inspirational people on and it's so helpful. I was on there actually. On Thanksgiving Day, so that was incredible. And you'll hear my journey if you want to listen to that I highly recommend her podcast. And then I'm in this amazing course with Kathy Heller. And I've learned that the only way we can really understand what's possible for our future for your future for my future for my kids future, is that we have to think about it, we have to dream what's possible. And I just really never did that before, you know, to be honest, like, it's sort of a bummer. But it's true. I was very, very analytical person. And I would think about things. And I'd be like, Oh, you know, someone would bring up a really great idea, but like, but what about this? What

Unknown: 5:43

about this? What about this? And

Julie- Host: 5:45

what about this, really like a lot of practical things? And sometimes, you know, I'm learning that I can't always be practical that I can't always think about, okay, how can I do this? You know, I have to think about what is possible? And what can we do? What can you do? Right? If if no one would have thought about things like Amazon delivering packages, or Google being able to look up anything on the internet and the whole world, right, that we wouldn't have it. So one has to have that vision for the future. And that's what I'm doing with this podcast, women with cool jobs. And I also wanted to share, I'm super, super excited that I am going to start a membership of women with cool jobs membership. And in this membership, the most amazing part of it is that you are actually going to get to participate live in these sessions, they're going to be virtual, and you're going to be able to listen in on the conversations with an incredible woman. And she's going to talk about where she's been what she's doing now. How is it if she has a family and other responsibilities that she's balancing? And she's gonna give some tips like always for if you're interested in going on a similar path? How can you do that? And that is going to be live. And I'm so excited for it. I think it's going to be an incredible opportunity, you're going to get to ask questions at the end. And it's just going to be really interactive and so fantastic. And of course, there's going to be other major benefits of joining and being a founding member of the women with cool jobs membership. That is my favorite one. Because I want to show you guys and cast a vision for what's possible for women. If you are interested in being part of this membership. You can go to my website, it's www dot women with cool jobs.com slash membership again, www dot women with cool jobs.com slash membership and you can find all the information there. So I'm so excited for that. I hope you are too. Now we're going to shift we're going to talk about my next interviewee I was so excited about this one because do you love chocolate? I love chocolate. I love chocolate so much. It reminds me of my son when he was in preschool. He was in bilingual preschool and they did this song and it was so cute. I don't remember all the words but it was like choco latte choco latte, choco latte. And I just remember that because I thought it was adorable and I love chocolate. So our next guest is Jessica Henderson. She has her own craft chocolate business called the chocolate monkey. And I met her because my husband surprised me with this incredible date for my birthday. It's been one of the most fun virtual experiences or any experiences that I've had during the pandemic. And she is teaching everyone all about the world of craft chocolate. She has been doing this for several years and just educating people about the difference between the chocolate you get at the everyday store and the chocolate that's really fine like high level craft chocolate. And I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation today. I gained so much information so many details that now when I pick up a chocolate bar or I go to purchase one from the store, I think about it in a completely different light. Sometimes I get really sad I have to admit because I don't want to buy that chocolate bar because I realized the ingredients are what I'm looking for anymore. But it was fantastic. If you are a chocolate lover, I think you're going to love this episode. So with that being said, thank you so much for listening to all the people who have listened thus far. This has been an incredible journey. Thank you for being on it with me. Enjoy my conversation with Jessica. Hey Jessica, thank you so much for being on my podcast today.

Jessica Henderson: 9:43

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited.

Julie- Host: 9:46

I was so excited when I found out about your business and what you do because it has to do with one of my all time favorite things which is chocolate and I'm sure as people who are listening they also are a huge fan of chocolate But I wanted to talk to you about your business because you are able to use your passion for chocolate and to teach craft chocolate education to people. And I know you've been doing this for a few years. So I would love for you to explain in your own words, what you do. And just give us a little bit of background on that.

Jessica Henderson: 10:20

So in my own words, I have a craft chocolate education company called chocolate monkey. And what I do is I offer lots of different education classes, but mostly tasty, or pairing chocolate with different beverages. And my goal is really simply to expose people to crack chocolate, which is different than mass marketed chocolate that you store. And I think once people are exposed to it, they realize it's a better quality. And

Julie- Host: 10:47

thank you so much for that. And so I want to definitely get into, you know, conversation about chocolate and what you're doing now. But one of the things that I really wanted to talk about is how did you get here? What were you doing before? And I know that you have a PhD? So why do you have a PhD in first of all in neuroscience? Wow. And what did you study when you were in that field,

Jessica Henderson: 11:15

so I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. And then Originally, I had wanted to go to medical school, but I switched, I wanted to do research. That was what was interesting to me at the time. And so in the neuroscience program, you don't typically get a master's degrees. So I just went straight for the PhD. And I studied the effects of hormones, and mostly birth control, but algorithms on behavior and the brain and brain systems. Yeah. And then after I got my PhD, I moved to Portland to do a postdoc for your post doctoral job. And I did that for a little while. And that is the city where I was exposed to craft chocolate myself. That's amazing.

Julie- Host: 11:58

And how did you get out of the Ph. D realm and get into the chocolate realm, like what made you want to make that shift,

Jessica Henderson: 12:08

I don't think it was like a very specific decision on my part, I was enjoying my postdoc, but I was working many, many, many hours. And in order to be competitive with the other people who wanted the next job on the ground, and I knew that I didn't want to be working 80 hours a week, every week for the rest of my life or for the foreseeable future. And while I was actually doing research, at work and or in work, and I was also teaching at the University of Washington, so I really have always loved teaching, even when I was doing research, like always volunteering to, like, do the little 15 minutes feel for the high school tours that came through the building, because I just really have always loved educating people and taking something that's scary or large or complicated and making it easy for people to understand. So when I decided not to pursue a second postdoc, I was going to pursue a lab position somewhere, unfortunately, the economy crashed. So I started teaching yoga, because again, I had been teaching Tai Chi on the side for a while. And I just started teaching yoga and really enjoyed that for a couple years. And then eventually I realized no one giving people the opportunity to learn about craft chocolate, where I was here in Charlotte. So I started my business doing that. And I taught yoga and chocolate for quite a while until the pandemic hit. And then I transitioned to virtually, virtually teaching.

Julie- Host: 13:33

Yes, yes. And I would love to definitely get into that a little bit later, like what shifts you've had to make in your current career and your business because I think so many people have had to make a shift and specifically to try to conduct business online, and how to make it still viable and still successful. And that's how I met you was by doing one of your online classes my husband had surprised me for late birthday gift. And it's just honestly one of the most fun experiences that I've gotten to have during the pandemic, which is why I was so excited to find out what you do for a living and really wanted to have you on the podcast because it's something that I would have never thought of as a career. Like that's awesome. So going kind of into what those things are that make you successful at what you do. I know you obviously have a ton of education, like the PhD experienced in your postdoc, and that's amazing, the neuroscience part.

Jessica Henderson: 14:36

And I have like four younger certificate, too. I just keep taking more training. That's everything I'm interested in. Yeah, no, I

Julie- Host: 14:43

I love education, right. That's why I'm doing this podcast. So I'm all for it. So, but specific to our topic today. I was curious about what was your education like in order to do your craft chocolate business now because I would have never thought to even Research them. So for people who are listening who might be interested in, I would love for you to share that and what you've experienced.

Jessica Henderson: 15:06

So basically, I do have some certificates, but they're completely unnecessary to what I do. When I found out that craft chocolate exists. When I was living in Portland, there weren't too many chocolate makers. And so it was kind of easy to know, everything there was to know about the craft chocolate world. And when I moved to Charlotte, I kind of had an idea to start this business. I actually started my Facebook page in 2011, my business Facebook, and I didn't actually start my real life, real business, right Incorporated, filed taxes and stuff until 2008. So I had been kind of, you know, educating myself along the way. And I read books, I read blogs, I ended up going to a strangely large amount of chocolate factories. Wow. Yeah. And I went to little ones, like they were basically glorified garages. And then I went to huge ones that were very large companies that employ hundreds of people on their production line. So I really just got a an overview of the chocolate world, when I really decided to get serious about this when my son was preschool, and I had a little bit jealous. I felt like, I felt like, you know, who's gonna want to take classes from somebody who says, Well, I've eaten a lot of chocolate for a long time, because haven't we? Yeah. So I just signed up for a certificate with a company called people talk a lot in 2017. Okay, and they did a fantastic job and a great assignment. Anybody can sign up for it online, they offer several different programs. And I took the master chocolate flavor program, and we had assignments, and it was like, it was homework. It wasn't a freebie, you know, you had to do the work, which I liked. And I learned a lot from the class. I enjoyed the class. But I would also say that the class was not necessary to do the job that I do. Yeah, because I had already been getting a lot of that just by reading and coffee and chocolate. Yeah, interesting.

Julie- Host: 17:09

And so I wanted to touch on a point, which I just through doing my research, and building this podcast, as it is, I hear a lot of people mentioned imposter syndrome, which is like, kind of what you were saying, or people just gonna be like, Oh, how can she do that? If she just likes tasting chocolate? That's, I like that, too. But I actually think that's such a common barrier for so many of us, like why we stop ourselves from continuing. So I think it's awesome that you were like, No, I'm passionate about this. I'm gonna do this, and make it into a business because it's something I love. So I just wanted to mention that because I think that everyone must get that at some point about something. I think everyone. Yeah. And the key seems to be you know, for the people who you think about those big names, in their field, whatever their respective field is, is that they just go past it. And they're like, no, I felt this and I'm going to move on and keep going. Yeah, so I just wanted to bring that up. Because even with the podcasting myself, I'm working on new things every day. And sometimes I'm like, you know, there's all these amazing podcasters but I'm learning and I'm still doing it. So with what you're doing now, what is your favorite part? I know you shipped package of chocolates to me in the desert in Arizona, like it's been record heat this summer. I mean, we've broken all sorts of insane records. So the fact that you could even ship chocolate and still, you know, pieces and not a giant blob is like a miracle

Jessica Henderson: 18:42

learning curve.

Julie- Host: 18:44

But still, but I mean, you know, that shows like The passion behind what you're doing right that you'd be willing to take those steps to figure out that crazy process. I can only imagine what what that entailed. So what is it that like, makes you really love your job.

Jessica Henderson: 19:00

I think that my favorite part of this job is when somebody and it can be virtual, like I can see it on screen work that's happened in person a lot too. When I was doing in person. My favorite part is when somebody like tastes chocolate, and they're like, wow, this is something different. This is this is not the sugary candy that I'm used to. And then maybe they taste a second sample and they're like, oh, there's there's a world here to explore. And I think you know, some people they just really get into it after that. And I think that's my favorite part is when I open people's eyes to what's out there and it's not really my favorite My favorite part is like introducing people to talk about but it is always like it always makes me smile. People send me either a text or an email after a tasty like a week after tasting and they're like, I just spent $100 on this bar that you introduced me. Like, that's, that's what I want and I want people to you know, to realize that Another craft chocolate bar is definitely more than something that you can buy in grocery store. But it's also very affordable, especially when you compare it to other luxuries like handbags or wine, which can easily be thousands of dollars. Right? Going, going to a $10 chocolate bar is affordable for most people, maybe not eating one every single day, but definitely eating Special appearance. Yeah.

Julie- Host: 20:26

Yeah. And I think you know, the interesting thing about even when we did the course, was just the aspect of the process behind everything is something that you know, exists, but you don't know what all those pieces to the puzzle are that create that piece of chocolate that you're actually trying. And I thought that was so interesting, getting that perspective, and then also what you're talking about as far as ingredients. So I found that very fascinating, that aspect. So we'll definitely hit on that. As far as what what is harder about your job, whether that was you know, before the pandemic, or currently What are sort of like some of the pain points or like the challenges for your job and doing this

Jessica Henderson: 21:13

before the pandemic, I would say that it was very difficult to get other people on board. It was very difficult to, for example, I work with a lot of wineries, it was very difficult to approach a winery, even if it was people that I knew because I was a patron of one to convince them to trust me with their customers. And so I approached a lot of wineries, and they had you take me up on it. And every time I did an event at the winery, it sold out. And every winery didn't ask me come back and do another event. Wow. So it was very successful. But I think getting people to take that leap of faith. I approached a lot of wine shops, for example. And I never got a wine shop owner to take that leap of faith. Yeah. So there's there's that and then, you know, before COVID, I had some other things going on, but it was that same thing. I think the hardest thing for me was to get people to give me the opportunity to talk to their group. Yeah, I was making some progress. And then of course, now we live virtual. And then I didn't actually random virtual wasn't, it really wasn't something I do now. But I had an event set up. That was the residence appreciation at a luxury apartment. And they said, you know, we have this set up you prepared? We've paid like, let's just do it. Let's do it virtually. So I said, Okay, so I delivered the place. And there was a little bit it's a little bit different when you deliver chocolate the way you like hand it to someone because you have to follow more rules about packaging and about labeling ingredients and allergens and all that kind of stuff. So there was like, right off the bat, there was a couple of challenges that that events that virtual events were very well. And so I thought, well, let's do some more. And then I just been doing members.

Julie- Host: 23:03

That's awesome. And do you know how many virtual events you've done to date at this point?

Jessica Henderson: 23:09

Well, I know at one point, I was very proud that I had done a dozen. I was super excited about this point. I have lost.

Julie- Host: 23:17

Yeah, that's awesome. And especially because you didn't even plan on going this route. So it just sort of happened naturally. And quite honestly,

Jessica Henderson: 23:25

I I think that summer typically is a slow season for chocolate. So for most chocolate shops or chocolate years, unless you're in a tourist community. Summer is the slow season. Not a lot of people want a BonBon rhubarb chocolate. Yeah, yeah. So make sure this is something that is very, like fall, winter time, Caribbean up until Valentine's Day people love it. So this is actually the slow season. Yeah. And yeah, and a lot of my offerings have to cost more because I have to ship on ice, right. And so there's a price there as well. So I'm hoping that in full when shipping goes down, price will go down and people will be more interested in chocolate and actually, even more.

Julie- Host: 24:10

Yeah, that's awesome. I can tell you've really figured out some systems to make things work. You know, so I want to talk like a little bit more about the details. Because to me, like I would think of your job and I'm like, Oh, she tastes chocolate every day. And that's part of your job. But aside from that amazing fact, what are some of the things that you do to prepare for this job or to keep up to date in the market to keep on top of trends? Like if someone's asking from that standpoint, are there certain things that you would recommend that they do to really be in the know, in this type of role?

Jessica Henderson: 24:53

I would say that the first thing you want to do is get some books. There's great books out there and I think There's a lot of information available online. But I think you learn more from books. So I think just start learning about chocolate because there's a lot to it. And so when I started teaching about chocolate a couple years ago, there were known to be or said to be three different types of cow beans, which is the chocolate tree, and it was Criollo trinitario, unforced error. So when I started teaching, I would tell people like these forastero beans are certain genetic type, and they have a certain taste, and they're very different from these Creole beans, which happens other certain tastes. And then right when I started teaching Mickey Mouse, they said, three is maybe a little too simplistic, we're gonna go to 12. Okay, I just made a chart, you know, like, there's a chart there in families, so pretty easy to explain. And at this point, they're at about,

Julie- Host: 25:54

Oh, that's a large.

Jessica Henderson: 25:57

Because they started you as crap chocolate started taking off and has people that were interested in the flavor of chocolate, they found like different genetic strains is really important, because we want to support this industry. And there is a organization called the air out preservation fund that actually seeks out high quality flavored outies. And so and it's really funny because I tell people this and even people in the industry will still use those three old terms. And even people when I say there's, no, that's not right, there's 12. Well, actually, since you read, so I think that in order to stay current, you really just have to, you know, follow different people and like, become a member of the preservation fund and learn about what's going on. Chocolate is a huge industry. So there's a lot of things out there where you can learn what's going on. And there are some festivals that took place, pre pandemic, that I'm hoping will start again, but it's probably going to be a couple years, and those festivals have shifted slightly online. So follow those.

Julie- Host: 27:07

And what are those called? Like?

Jessica Henderson: 27:09

What are the names of the first one was the Northwest chocolate festival, and there's the Dallas chocolate festival in the fine, fancy Food Show. And then a company called dandelion in San Francisco, and this year had their very first Festival this year, I think. It was in March. So they split it in there. Right? Before we all had to say yeah, good for them. Good for them. Yeah.

Julie- Host: 27:37

Okay. And are those something that only really industry professionals go to? Are those things that just someone who may be interested and passionate about it can

Jessica Henderson: 27:47

go? I would say like joining the industry organizations, maybe for professionals, festivals, anybody can go to? Okay, absolutely. Awesome. You'll learn a little bit and then you go to the next one, where a little bit more, go to the next one, and maybe talk to makers more? Yeah. And are their main associations that you belong to that are are known for the craft chocolate industry, the fine chocolate Industry Association, okay. It was founded in 2007. So everything, you know, that I'm kind of talking about is very, very, very young industry. And compared to the global chocolate industry, the craft or fine within our industry is very small. When I learned about craft chocolate, it was like in maybe 2005 2006. And there was maybe five ish being carmakers. And then it just cut. Yeah, so it was very easy to stay on top of, and then it kind of grew. And as it grew, I stayed on top of it, like, oh, there's un Let me try their bars. And so now there's at least over 200, but I have heard over 400, buy some stuff that has grown a lot growing industry.

Julie- Host: 28:58

Yeah, that's amazing. And is do you think are there reasons behind why it's grown so much like and is it worldwide? Or is it mainly focused in the US?

Jessica Henderson: 29:08

It's actually worldwide? And I think there's a real interest in where our food comes from right now. And I think there's an interest in making food taste better. And things being more natural and more good for you. Yeah, and so just like craft beer has kind of exploded and craft coffee has exploded. There's been, you know, Slow Food chef to table that kind of thing. It's been a lot of interest in the entire food industry. Yeah. Chocolate.

Julie- Host: 29:40

Yeah, thank you for that explanation. And that's actually a perfect segue because I did want you to talk a little bit about your expertise in the tasting, you know, department and really noticing the ingredients as well. So I was hoping you could explain that to people who are listening now.

Jessica Henderson: 30:00

I will briefly very briefly explain the your quote unquote proper way to taste a bar, which is to use all of your senses. So first, you're going to look at the bar and make sure that it's shiny, and it has imperfections. Next, you're going to snap the bar. And this is true of dark chocolate, it should have an audible sound. And that's an indication of it being in temper issues that crystals are properly lined up, and it's another sign of quality. And then you're gonna smell the chocolate bar. And as most people know, a lot of what we taste is actually what we smell. So what you smell is very, very important. And then you're gonna put the chocolate in your mouth. My favorite part, everybody's favorite. In fact, when I do when I teach meditation on chocolate, which is part of like a chocolate and yoga program, I actually make people wait. And I ask them to notice that they're salivating and ask them to notice if you're angry with me, because I will hurt them.

Julie- Host: 30:55

So funny.

Jessica Henderson: 31:00

Then, yeah, usually, that's what happens. Yes, I am angry, that I eat. Right? The last step, the last step is putting the chocolate in your mouth. And if you do this with a, like a mass marketed products, a lot of what you taste for that chocolate in your mouth is going to be sugar might smell and taste vanilla, you'll taste like a roast and a deep chocolate flavor, but it's like a roasted chocolate flavor. And that's it like it's very one dimensional. And when I taste craft chocolate, I look for the same thing I look for in wine, which is I want the chocolate to have a flavor profile. So it's gonna start out as one thing, and then transition to something else. I've made notes, and then it will have a finish that's different. And so that's what I really look for. I really look for complex chocolate, and I have a lot of tasting tools, I have a lot of flavor feels that we can go through ways to put words to what you're experiencing. But at the end of the day, it's really just whether you like it or not, do you want to reach for another piece? Right? So you know, as a professional, I spend a lot of time, you know, trying to analyze why I like being or why I don't like it. But really, whether I need that chocolate bar, in my tastings to prove that to other people is really like, okay, I did my tasting. And I took my notes, and I did my profession part like that later that night. Did I go open that bar? That's the bar. Yeah, the ones that kind of just get shoved aside like that.

Julie- Host: 32:45

That makes complete sense to me.

Jessica Henderson: 32:48

So your question was, do I eat chocolate every day? For the most part? Every day? I mean, I skip a couple days. I get a vacation, too.

Julie- Host: 32:57

Yeah, that's that. And I, I know, you exercise, just, you know, given the yoga background and everything as well. So I am sure that that helps balance as well. The the chocolate, but yeah, I, I appreciate that explanation of the process of going through and properly tasting. And the comparison to wine I think is really interesting. I, I luckily had the opportunity to get new being in in France a few times and going to Europe a few times. And I've always been a huge fan of chocolate. So I just would bring you know hoards of chocolate home just like an insane amount of chocolate to share, of course, with my family, as well as myself. But it was always so incredible to taste the differences. You know, even though to me, it seems like chocolate in and of itself seems like a simple, it might be as simple thing, like just one ingredient. But yet, there's so many things that affect that flavor. And that was another thing I wanted to see if you could explain like, what are the things that affect the flavor, the ingredients included, but the process before and kind of the harvesting process and how they prepare it and before it gets to the ingredients listed in the bar.

Jessica Henderson: 34:19

So I'm going to go back to that wine comparison because I think a lot of people understand that wine is an agricultural product. And we understand that there's lots of different types of wines. And then there's lots of different qualities, you know, there's the$2, bottle of wine and the seven and the 70 and the 700. So there's a huge amount of quality that they they also understand that for example, wine varies from year to year. Based on what you're talking about, like what happens farmer what happens when they process the grapes. So chocolate is very similar because it's an agricultural products. You start with the variety of trees. So as I mentioned before, there's a lot of different forms. Genetic varieties of I call them chocolate tree. Or maybe it's funny, technically, they're outrageous. That's a different chocolate trees out there, and they hybridize easily. Next, what's really interesting is you can actually have a mix of different genetics within one pod. So yeah, usually when you are on a farm, unless it's been isolated from other farms, and you are getting some kind of a hybrid mix of those genetic varieties, so the genetics matter, and then of course, like, the way that the farm is tended to matters, obviously, like anyone's familiar with gardening, or care of any agricultural plants, like, you know, if you don't take good care of your shrub, or your inside plants, or flowers are not going to be very numerous, and they're not going to be very big, pretty, but if you are careful and clean properly, and water properly, you know, you tend to them and give them fertilizer when they need it, then you're going to get big, beautiful clips. And it would be the same thing with trees. Most cow farms do not use any kind of fertilizers or pesticides, mostly because they can't afford to, but they do like prune chop properly and make sure there's no diseased parts on your trees cut that off that kind of thing. And so the health of the trees actually, help of the entire farm actually matters. And then once the actual fruits like a cow pod is harvested, what they do is ferment the inside of the fruit so they're fermenting the beans, and the white sticky profits around the beans and fermenting can be done very like haphazardly or it can be done with a lot of care, one farm that I was just listening to how they develop their fermentation protocols. And they have like hired a scientists to develop these and they monitor the temperature and return the pile every so often. And like they go through all kinds of steps to make sure that their beans are fermented properly. Other people, if they're going to sell their beans for X amount of dollars, whether those these is good or bad, they're not going to put the work into making them taste good. So they're gonna ferment on a pile in the middle of the jungle. Because it doesn't matter if these tastes better. They're getting the same amount of money for them. And so it's a smart business decision to not put resources like your time into making the beans tastes better when you're not gonna get any return. Yeah,

Julie- Host: 37:26

those are very different approaches. very extreme differences.

Jessica Henderson: 37:31

There's a lot in between here.

Julie- Host: 37:33

Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah. But I appreciate you sharing that. Because normally, I would never, ever think about that, if I'm tasting a piece of chocolate like that just didn't even dawn on me to think about. And I think it's one of the really neat aspects of what you do is like, is bringing that awareness not only of what you were describing, with the different elements of, you know, the sensory experience and the taste experience, but then also combining that educational portion. And thinking about all that, when you taste a craft chocolate, you know, like a piece or whether you eat the whole bar

Jessica Henderson: 38:11

whole bar once or twice.

Julie- Host: 38:13

I think you're not alone. And neither am I. So yeah, so that's amazing. And then I want to also talk about what was it that you were doing before when you were doing events, if you could describe some of those some examples of what you do, like whether it's corporate or, you know, for for things like personal events, I'd love to hear about that.

Jessica Henderson: 38:35

So before the pandemic, I was doing a couple different events actually started by incorporating craft chocolate into my yoga classes. So I would do a restorative yoga with chocolate. And I made a couple changes to it over the years. I just you know, every time I did it, I thought oh, I'm gonna make it better make it better. And one of the things that I learned very early on, by doing this with my yoga classes, is that when you say chocolate, a lot of people think of our box, they think of Phil's chocolate. And so I found out that some people, some people were very disappointed to come to an event and only get pieces of chocolate bars suggested though I was like, okay, so always offer a BonBon at the end. Like Don't ever leave people feeling disappointed. Yeah, no, I learned a lot of really lessons kind of like that. I just offering it here and there. And then I did offer some craft chocolate tastings, I heard a couple different ones just to kind of see what was out there. Like I offered one that was dark chocolate or noon, there was no chocolate only one that was American major company. But what I really had success with was carrying one chocolate. That's awesome. Yeah, once I kind of like felt comfortable enough to approach binary, and I started that pairing. That's when like I was doing very well. It would sell out every time and I really enjoyed it because every had a good time, it was just fun. And people that maybe don't really care about where their food comes from, tasted better chocolate. And that's my mission to get this chocolate in the hands of people. So the pairing classes really allowed me to reach people that I wouldn't otherwise reach.

Julie- Host: 40:18

Yeah. And when you were doing those wine pairings with the chocolates, were you working with the, like the owners, or like Somalis? Who

Jessica Henderson: 40:28

were you working with? To make them It depended on the winery, like sometimes the owners of the winery, themselves. Wow. And I would sit down, and we would, and we would basically, you know, very, very spreadsheet, like it's different chocolates with different wines and talk about why they work and come up with a menu that worked very well. That's amazing when and also like when I'm when I'm planning a menu, like, even if you know, six dark chocolates from the same place like Madagascar always work with all the wine. Like that's not a very interesting pairing. And it's not a very good story. Nobody learns. Right? Like when I would play on those menus, I always really had things I wanted to touch on. I always wanted to have you chocolates with different percentages. So I could talk about what the percentage on a bar means. Because a lot of people believe it or not, I still think that percentage us poverty, right? I don't I don't know if it's raining.

Julie- Host: 41:28

Yeah, no, I think it's just like what we've seen in the mass media. And I guess I should only speak for myself, but what I seen and the mass media versus knowing how to look at the ingredients. And the process behind creating things, which is really what you do is like such a good job of enlightening people on you know, is all those different components. Just besides you know, maybe a number Yeah, like percentage,

Jessica Henderson: 41:56

I think that's kind of part of that part of my job is that education, so I'm going to have chocolates with different percentages, I'm going to have chocolate from different origins, I'm going to have chocolates and different countries. And I need to have some dark and some mouth because people have their favorites. And you have to include the unless you specifically advertise the air, including one. And so it's sometimes can actually be complicated to come up with a really big set of really good pairs that still allows you to tell the story. Yeah. So after I had some success with the wineries and started breweries, so I did some chocolate and beer pairings. And yeah, yeah, go ahead. How

Julie- Host: 42:37

did people react to having the chocolate and beer was that because to me, that sounds so unique. I would have never thought of that.

Jessica Henderson: 42:46

Well, I can say that the actual like signups. I mean, they were not as popular as chocolate, and wine. But the people that came to them actually really, really enjoyed the program. I Ben and I did one wild card program was like, because it was a place that made a whole bunch of things. So I did a chocolate kombucha, and the hard kombucha and beer and while all in one night, and it was I just I knew it was going to be the funnest when I did that. That's so creative, like, but

Julie- Host: 43:20

yeah, you know, I could see how maybe you wouldn't originally get as many people to sign up for a beer and chocolate tasting, because it's just not something that I would think to put together. But there are so many people who are passionate about beer, so I could see how that would be such a neat class, like just very creative, something that is so new. Wow. Yeah.

Jessica Henderson: 43:45

Like, that's one of those things, that's a positive and a minus. Right, you and it's cool and exciting. But it's also hard to get a brewery to trust me that you know, their customers. And I respect that. And I, you know, I try to be familiar with the breweries lines before I even attempt it. And I've done that with wineries too. Like, if it's a winery that I don't patronize, then I'll go and just be a customer and just do a tasting. And if I don't like their wine, then I don't try to do an event there. I can't believe in it with my whole heart. Yeah, I do. Yeah. And the breweries and and still doing the yoga thing. And then I got private greens from here. And then I really enjoy smaller events, actually, because I think they're more intimate. And I think people will talk a lot more than the typical, like 10 then they will if it's a group of 40 and so I really enjoyed doing salary. And when I kind of went virtual, I had found the same thing. I did one very large events and I didn't really like it because people didn't want us to adjust to too many people in the room. But when you do an event with like seven people then people are a lot more interactive, everything they have a better experience in interact. So I enjoy doing this.

Julie- Host: 44:58

Yeah, I can just See all that education, passion shining through from like that PhD perspective, and then all the trainings that you've done, I know you said, you just signed up for one more, that you're gonna do just like that constant education. And I think that's something that's so common with people who really love what they do. And you're so passionate about it. I'm so excited to get to talk to you. And I wanted to ask you with the way things are now, do you plan to do things mainly online for the foreseeable future, and just grow that aspect of your business,

Jessica Henderson: 45:35

I plan to continue offering virtual events, one of the thing that's been very good for me is people have friends or family all across the country. So especially for Mother's Day, I did a lot of private events for families who kind of see each other, even if we hadn't been locked down. They were all in different states. Okay, so it was really fantastic for me to be able to ship the same chocolates off even five or six different families, we all met over zoom, and we all taste the same thing. And the family were there to have that experience with each other. Yeah, so that that really meant a lot to me, because not only was I exposing them to find chocolate, but I also gave them a series, which I think is really yeah,

Julie- Host: 46:19

in a shared experience at the same time. And, and building the memory to around that. Because I think that's what I found is such a hard thing for me now. And I can imagine everyone else is in the same boat is that we don't have the same opportunities to connect on the community level, but even with our own family sometimes, and create sort of those normal experiences that we would get to create. And so that that's such a cool thing to be able to do that with you and still have that sort of bonding, new experience, and do something like that. So I could see how that would be so invaluable.

Jessica Henderson: 46:58

And then kind of on the other side, like there's a lot of businesses that are not in one locality, because we kind of live in a digital age. And so there have been a lot of people who had me do you know, employee appreciation events? And I think that having an experience like what you're saying it's an experience, I think having that experience means more to people than just getting, you know, a gift in the mail. right in your company. Yeah, so I do plan on continuing to offer virtual, but I also will hopefully do in person events in a way that we do it.

Julie- Host: 47:34

Yeah. And with the plan being to still do those sort of corporate related business events, as well as personal sort of experiences for people. Yeah, that's, I think that's wonderful. And I know, I was just so happy to take part in it. And it was it was so nice to have an experience, you know, and just do something new. So I wanted to touch now, like a little bit on if people are interested in doing their own craft chocolate business, where can they get some information for like, Where to start? Is there like a certain place that you would recommend? I know, we mentioned a slew of associations, is there one starting place that you'd recommend? So there's a lot, okay.

Jessica Henderson: 48:18

I think that your first starting place should be like, invest in as many different chocolates and understand that when you're buying a brand that is new to you, that you didn't get recommended to like, it might be that there are a lot of craft chocolate brands out there, and especially those who are new to the market, and they're, they're not good. And you just have to understand that it's just part of what it is that what goes on the hot cocoa for me if their textures really bad at taste. So I think that is the first thing you should do is buy the honestly because nothing is gonna prepare you to talk about Java other than eat chocolate. And so I'm gonna do a quick shout out to my friend Estelle Tracy at 37. Chocolate, she actually has an online guide, I can get the video and go to her website, there is some chocolates, that she has a how to design in the chapel tasty glass, wow, that it's like after you buy your chocolate, and you're like, Okay, I'm serious about this, I would say that's a good place to start. It also comes with a Facebook group with which I'm in. So there's other people out there. But I do want to touch on something else real quick. And that is when you're eating all of these chocolates. A lot of times people can be very snobbish or elitist, and only by craft, that I really would encourage you to also buy mass marketed brands, because especially when you're starting out, it's really really difficult to tell a quality difference from four or five amazingly good quality bars. But if you take those bars and you compare them to something that you can find The grocery store, you'll really start to notice the chocolate feels different in your mouth, the chocolate smells different. And in fact, I saw an online video once, I can't remember which guitars It was one of the guitars and remembers, and she was given a blind tasting. And she was just looking at the chocolate, and she could tell which one was mass marketed. And like, just by sight, that's incredible. So when you invest in that chocolate, you can do that, too. So I'm, I'm not tired by any, but I can, you know, look at chocolate and see something that might indicate whether it was quality or not. So you can look at it and smell it. And then you'll know, and one of the things I've done in my tasting, I've made it really, really easy sometimes, like if people are trouble at the end that cost $3. And another truffle at the end that cost 10 cents. And I'm very honest about like I've given you and it's a test like we're gonna have a test. Can you tell? which is which? And I have never had anyone failed that. Wow. That's cool. I love that

Julie- Host: 51:03

idea.

Jessica Henderson: 51:04

Because because it's very obvious, especially once you try something that has different ingredients, it just it feels different in your mouth. And once you have the experiences of having both, then it's very obvious. Okay. Yeah. Thank you give people the task when I know that it's going to go over well, we do a corporate event. Put it ours person to fail was like,

Julie- Host: 51:31

Oh my gosh, yeah, that would be hopefully he would be or she would be able to laugh about it

Jessica Henderson: 51:39

and move on.

Julie- Host: 51:42

You feel a chocolate test. That's no worse things could happen. So yeah, that's hysterical. So is there anything else that you would say, besides going out and actually buying a whole bunch of chocolate,

Jessica Henderson: 51:55

I think when you start reading about chocolate, it kind of seems like everybody does the same thing. Because they all kind of glaze over it. Like they'll it's like we talked about fermentation differences earlier, one was very not involved. One was extremely involved. And there's everything in between, right. And I think that when you start reading about chocolate, it's just gonna say fermentation. And sometimes it'll give you details, those details are very specific to that company or that country that farm. And it's the same thing with a chocolate making process. When you go to a factory, they're going to have certain equipment, and they use a certain process. Yeah, and it's very different to roast cocoa beans in one type of oven than it is to us and another type of oven, and how those have been set ground and be for two hours on one machine, or 48 hours on another machine. So if you go to one place, or you do one book, you might think that the way that you are shown the way everybody does it, like, Okay, everybody has this one machine. And that's not true. There's a huge amount of variation. And that's something that like, when I was learning, that was something that was really hard for me, right? Okay, so there's grinding, and there's refining, and there's punching. And I don't understand, like, I don't understand what's going on here. Because nobody really gives you their information, cuz it's kind of trade secret. And then some people do all of this processes in one machine. And some people have three G's or six inches. So that's where I think that it was very educational go to lots of different factories, because I kind of got an appreciation for the fact that there's not one way to do this, that doing it lots of different ways can all yield really good results. And it led me to ask the question, why are you doing it that way versus the other way? And that might be a little bit more than your average chocolate employer wants to know, yeah, if you wanted to get into teaching about chocolate as a profession, then you probably wonder, yeah.

Julie- Host: 53:56

Yeah, that makes complete sense. Just knowing all the details and what goes on behind the scenes. And yeah, the fact that there's so many different ways to do something.

Jessica Henderson: 54:10

They say they curse, but they don't have a punching machine. And all they would do is take off the pressure of their grinding machine. And this is the grinding machines version to consciousness airing. And it's very much like when you get your wineglass you swirl the wine, gets rid of some off notes, like aroma notes, and it just kind of helps the flavor of the wine. It's the same with chocolate. So crunchy is the simplified version is it's airing chocolate and getting rid of some new, okay, or making it taste better. Okay,

Julie- Host: 54:38

thank you for that simplified explanation.

Jessica Henderson: 54:40

But I mean, it confused me for a month. I'm not an ignorant person. But oh, like, I don't understand what's going on here. But it goes to show the differences between everything that people are doing and especially as you mentioned, it sounds like the industry has grown so much And the time that you've been been working in that industry, when this industry kind of started, like the only machines being made to produce chocolate were very, very, very large volumes, because that's what the large candy makers use. And so people wanted to make small batches and there wasn't machines to do that. People were using their home ovens, and they were winnowing with hair dryers, and they. And they were using like, modified, you know, coffee grinders or nut butter grinders like everybody was kind of trying to figure out how to do it. And then I think somebody kind of stood out from the pack with Johnny and gave us chocolate. How can he is the one that kind of started making equipment or small batch chocolate makers? Okay. Yeah. So he started his company in 2000. So 15 years, like, so that's the very first thing he sold, every chocolate maker, you know, coming down, and gradually granting? Yeah, I

Julie- Host: 56:03

mean, 15 years in the history of chocolate, like, you know,

Jessica Henderson: 56:07

it's definitely has been enjoyed for as like, currently, we believe 5500 years.

Julie- Host: 56:14

Oh, my gosh, that is so much longer than I thought. That's amazing.

Jessica Henderson: 56:18

So that's one of the other things that you have to keep up to date on because when I, when I was learning about chocolate was like, Oh, the Mayans, you know, they were the first to use chocolate. And then they uncovered some other archaeological site in like Mexico and Ecuador. And so they do have some like chocolate residue on them. 5500 years. That's Wow. See,

Julie- Host: 56:43

it just goes to show how smart we were as human race, right to create this so long ago. Like, yeah, yeah, like, I need this in my life.

Jessica Henderson: 56:56

What's so funny, though, is, you know, for me to say that so chocolate, the first chocolate bar was 1800. So for 5300 years, it was a drink. And it's only been a bar for 200 years. Wow. And catch up with somebody that around for 20 years. Oh, my gosh, yeah. That's incredible.

Julie- Host: 57:16

I had no idea.

Jessica Henderson: 57:17

Nobody has it. Yeah, I just go to the supermarket and buy there,

Julie- Host: 57:21

you know. And yeah, so glad that someone decided to invent it for me. So I can, I can enjoy it. So I want to make sure we also touch on the ingredients part, because I find this fascinating. So if people are looking at a bar of chocolate, what is it that they want to see on that label? Like, what's the ideal

Jessica Henderson: 57:47

if you're looking to buy a packet, and we're gonna talk about dark chocolate with you here, the first thing you want to see is a cow or cow beans, or cocoa beans, because chocolate is like an international product, chocolate and cocoa are kind of all mixed together. But if you see cocoa beans, or cacao beans as your first ingredient, you know that that is somebody who's starting with me. And usually people that advertise they start with beans are paying for quality, the next ingredient would probably be sugar. And then that's where pure stock there are people out there who will need to ingredient chocolate have quite a few actually, a lot of other people are like, I don't really understand why you want to be so purist about it because it actually tastes better with little hooks. So you might see cocoa butter, which is part of the chocolate seed or being is fat, and that's just the fat that's been extracted, and it's just added back to do a better taste in the mouth. So cocoa butter would be a third ingredient. And then you may or may not, depending on how curious you want to be allow for lesson, there's a soy lecithin and a sunflower lesson and that as an emulsifier. And that helps the solid state emulsified or suspended in the fat. And so it gives it a better mouthfeel and a lot of people like it because they like the red pills in their mouth. And a lot of people think it's cheap, because soy lecithin use like three drops out and probably cost like 30 cents, cocoa butter, you need to use a lot more, a lot more. So some people think using muffins cheap. Okay, that's up for that's up for you to decide that enough. Fair enough. And some chocolate makers will add vanilla. And if you see vanilla, or natural vanilla, organic vanilla, you know, once again, that's for you to decide if it's okay to be in your chocolate or not. If you see imitation vanilla, then they're definitely using something.

Julie- Host: 59:53

Okay, good to know.

Jessica Henderson: 59:54

I mean, it's I think what I had told you earlier was if you turn Back of a bar over, and first ingredient easiest chocolate VHF co led like, and then in parentheses it has cocoa mass sugar probably starts with sugar. That means that they're buying creamy chocolate from someone else. And the person they're buying from a very large manufacturers, and the large manufacturers do not pay attention to quality, they pay attention to cost. And so you're gonna get something that doesn't taste very good.

Julie- Host: 1:00:27

Yeah. And I remember also, when we had our event with you, you mentioned what is the minimum that they can put in and still call it chocolate. For the amount, the minimum to be called chocolate in the United States is 10%. Okay,

Jessica Henderson: 1:00:41

so on occasion, like, especially around the holidays, and you see like really cheap candy for the kids candy or foil wrapped up, you'll see chocolate flavor, and that means it doesn't even have 10%. Wow, I mean, that's just like colored sugar wax. I can try not to voice

Julie- Host: 1:01:00

even for your kids.

Jessica Henderson: 1:01:03

Toy Story that does make you seem a little bit elitist. But I'll tell you the story. So somebody had bought my son for coin chocolate. Yes, chocolate flavored Zhao funny. And he was like, I don't know, maybe two and a half at the time. And, of course, I've been giving him good stuff. And he goes to take a bite of this and he just sliced out anyway. Nope. And it gives it back to me and it has little teeth and I took a picture of her like, that's so funny. Like, even he can tell like, just from the bite. Love real chocolate.

Julie- Host: 1:01:43

It sounds incredible. So he's gonna be like, I when he's older. He's gonna know he's gonna be like, Is there a Sarah version of a Somali a for the chocolate world? The craft chocolate world? Like, he'll be like one of those. Yeah, at what? 1012?

Jessica Henderson: 1:02:01

Well, that was another thing that I I struggle when I started my business, because I know you're talking to a lot of people who are just starting out. I actually call myself a chocolate smile. Yay. And yeah, I thought that was an appropriate term. And I have seen some other people you're throwing around here and there. But um, fortunately, a lot of people didn't know what that meant. caught it. And even if they knew it, the word smiley, AV, they didn't understand what a chocolate summary was. Okay, and so I switched it. And I just say I'm a certified chocolate. Yeah.

Julie- Host: 1:02:36

Yeah, yeah. Cuz, Somali, you have to know the term that it means that it's a wine expert with that, like, I mean, they go through so much schooling and, and it's not just like, you stick on a sticker and like, oh, Somali. A for me? Yeah, like it's a

Jessica Henderson: 1:02:50

process. But that's a very well regulated industry. And they have like, benchmarks and tests and everything. Those of us who call themselves chocolate Somalis really used to that term benchmarks out there,

Julie- Host: 1:03:05

that makes sense, because if it hasn't existed for that long, then you know, people haven't sort of set up that structure to to exist yet. So is there anything else I think for people, you know, going back to someone who would be really interested or passionate in this area, that you would give them advice that, you know, you learned the hard way, or you learned the easy way, but just are saying something that's really helped you sort of like a parting gift, you know, so to speak.

Jessica Henderson: 1:03:38

I would say don't have imposter syndrome. Be confident in what you know. And sometimes people ask me questions, and I'm very comfortable saying, I don't know, I'll get back to you. And you don't have to know all 150 genetic types of chocolates to teach somebody else how to enjoy the chocolate. You know, you don't have to know everything. I'm definitely still learning. I'm definitely still tasting. Yeah, I

Julie- Host: 1:04:04

hey, I'm with you. And you want to if you want to help her for the tastings, you can let me know later. I could work for free.

Jessica Henderson: 1:04:13

And I'm quite honestly, there's actually people who have been doing this since it started. And they have online databases of all of the bars they've tried. And they have, you know, they would have the bar maker and the year they tried it. And I will say ingredients and then they'll rate them in a different rating system. So there's databases out there. If you're curious, just look like yeah, it's out there. But those things are really interesting. And I I love the people that do them because that's very much like how I am like, I want to just catalog everything, but at the end of the day, like if somebody just wants do they want to eat it or not? Yeah, doesn't really matter if it's all meant or walnut, or if at all, like did they enjoy it? I always come up always come back to that the end was everybody has different preferences. And not everybody likes to say music. Not everybody likes the same cars, we all drive different cars. So we're all going to enjoy different types of chocolate. And I'm really glad there's some real chocolate out there. But people don't know about it. And if you're just learning that it exists, I think it can be a little intimidating, you know, to be like, Oh my gosh, now there's all this world I'm exposed to where do I start? And that's why I like to give people like a good introduction. So I have an introduction to craft chocolate. And then if people want more, I'm happy to offer resources or after some more involved to where you can really start to evaluate what you like in chocolate and what you don't like and chocolate, because that's going to help you pick or not make those bad decisions. Yeah,

Julie- Host: 1:05:50

yeah. And so going off that I wanted to ask if people do want to reach out to you and get more information, they just have questions. Or if they want to take some of your classes, how would they reach you? The best way to reach me is my Facebook site. It's chocolate, DMC, because I live in North Carolina,

Jessica Henderson: 1:06:11

I always keep all my Facebook events up to date. And although I really love making like super premium custom events, for people, my passion is sharing chocolate with as many people as possible. So I always try to have some events that are more affordable. So I have a wide variety of events. And I was trying to mix them up and make them fun. A lot of pairing stuff, even if you go to my page and don't take anybody even just reading the description of the event will give you some idea of maybe what you want to look for in bars or some idea of what you want to type in your next Google search. Yeah,

Julie- Host: 1:06:49

yeah, sure. Okay. Well, thank you so much for all the insight into the world of chocolate for giving us a little piece of that education in the craft chocolate world. And I just was so excited that you could share what you do, because I have probably at least a handful of friends that would find your job completely amazing. And would be also happy to be taste testers. At least. If nothing else,

Jessica Henderson: 1:07:20

there are no shortage. There are no shortage.

Julie- Host: 1:07:22

I know. Right. But yeah, so thank you so much, Jessica, for being here. And for sharing all your knowledge, educating us about craft chocolate, and your business and all that you do. And I so appreciate your time.

Jessica Henderson: 1:07:37

Thank you very much for having me. Really. I'm really excited to be able to reach more people with the news that craft chocolate.

Julie- Host: 1:07:46

It was delicious. So thank you. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to women with cool jobs. I'll be releasing a new episode every two weeks. So make sure you hit that subscribe button. And if you love the show, please give me a five star rating. Also, it would mean so much if you share this episode with someone you think would love it or would find it inspirational. And lastly, do you have ideas for future shows? Or do you know any Rockstar women with

Jessica Henderson: 1:08:20

cool jobs?

Julie- Host: 1:08:21

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at Julie at women with cool jobs calm or you can find me on Instagram at women cool job again that women will jobs. Thank you so much for listening and have an incredible day.